If you are currently working through the divorce or considering ending your marriage in the near future, it is in your best interest to avoid entering a new relationship until your divorce is finalized. This is because even if you feel your relationship with your spouse is over, your marriage is not over until the divorce process is complete. Dating before your divorce is complete is committing adultery, which can affect your spousal maintenance, property division, and child custody agreements. Remarrying after your divorce can also affect your divorce settlement. If you are receiving alimony, marrying a new partner will end this payment. Living with a new partner can also affect your alimony payments. This is because moving in with a partner significantly changes your financial circumstances, often providing you with greater buying power and assets. How Can A New…Read More
When you are in a car accident, you might feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. Car accidents can be terrifying and potentially lead to life-long impairments and significant bills. If you are injured or your car is damaged, you might also find yourself facing the prospect of filing an insurance claim. After any car accident, it is important that you take the follow steps. These steps not only put your health and safety at risk, but they lay the groundwork you will need for a successful personal injury claim if you decide to file one. 1. Check On All Other Parties And Call 911 If it is safe to exit your car, check on all other parties involved in the accident. If anybody appears to need emergency medical attention, dial 911 immediately to have an ambulance sent to…Read More
Drug addiction is a serious problem throughout New Jersey and the rest of the United States. In recent years, the number of heroin overdoses and arrests in New Jersey have driven the issue to be described by many as an epidemic. To combat drug issues and help addicts get the help that they need, New Jersey has a drug court program in place. Like other legal and social initiatives, New Jersey’s drug court has its benefits as well as its drawbacks. This program is designed to help offenders by providing them with opportunities for rehabilitation, rather than simply punishing them for committing drug-related crimes. However, there are limits to this program’s reach and in some cases, it works to effectively hinder an offender’s ability to recover. Pros Of New Jersey’s Drug Court By going through the drug court program, a…Read More
Whether you are required to help your child pay for his or her college expenses can depend on the following factors: If you are divorced If your child is currently considered to be a dependent Your other financial obligations College is expensive and very few young adults are financially capable of paying their way through college. Most rely on their families, scholarships, private and public loans, or a combination of these to finance their post-secondary education. But can you be legally required to help your adult child with his or her college costs? The answer is yes. In a recent case, a New Jersey college student brought her parents to court over her tuition bill to Temple University. Your Divorce Can Affect Your Obligation To Pay One of the factors that the court considers when determining whether a parent should…Read More
As a divorced parent, you may find yourself dating and eventually considering marrying another divorced parent. Since the middle of the twentieth century, married couples where at least one partner has a child from a previous relationship have become increasingly common in the United States. However, just because this type of setup is fairly common does not mean it is without its challenges. Adjusting to life after a divorce can be difficult for all members of a family. For the adults involved, a divorce means potentially losing one’s home, a significant portion of his or her net worth, and daily interaction with his or her child. For a child, a divorce can mean a completely new lifestyle and no control over the changes that accompany this new lifestyle. As a parent, it is your job to make your divorce as…Read More
Legally, a child becomes an adult on his or her eighteenth birthday. This is the date at which he or she does not need parental permission for decisions such as marrying, elective surgery, tattoos and other body modifications, and working. For most individuals, this transition from childhood to adulthood is known as “emancipation.” When a child is emancipated, his or her parents lose the right to make decisions on his or her behalf. They also lose their financial responsibility toward him or her. An adolescent may seek emancipation through the court if he or she feels he or she must become a legal adult before the age of eighteen. This often occurs when he or she is tasked with caring for younger siblings, needs to leave an abusive household, or is engaged in a lucrative career and needs to have…Read More
Pets are part of the family. Many New Jersey couples treat their pets like their children, regardless of whether they have human children or not. This leads many couples to question how custody of their pets will be determined during a divorce. There is no law in place regarding pet custody in New Jersey. In previous decades, pets were treated as pieces of personal property during the divorce process and subject to the division factors included in New Jersey’s property division statute. Today, with changed attitudes toward the pet’s role within a family in place, New Jersey divorce courts are more likely to determine custody of a couple’s pet similarly to how they determine custody for children. Although certain factors that are applied to children, such as personal and educational needs, are not present when determining where a dog or…Read More
Divorces among mature adults, those over the age of fifty, are becoming more common than they have ever been in the past. These divorces are sometimes known as “gray divorce” and are often accompanied by challenges that younger divorcing couples do not face. One of the biggest dividing factors in these divorces is one or both spouse’s retirement. Retiring from a career after two, three, or even more decades in the workforce is one of the greatest lifestyle changes that occur in one’s lifetime. Friction, misunderstandings, and previously-ignored interpersonal issues can be magnified after a retirement, sometimes driving couples to divorce. Consider the following issues and talk about them with your spouse before either of you retire. By acknowledging any issues that may arise, you can prepare yourselves to handle them. Consider speaking with a licensed relationship counselor about these…Read More
Having a shore house and spending summers by the beach is a tradition many New Jersey families cherish. But when a couple divorces, the shore house can become a point of contention. Like all other property, including the family’s full-time home, a vacation house is a significant investment and may constitute a large portion of a married couple’s marital property. In New Jersey, a divorcing couple’s property is divided according to a principle known as equitable distribution, where numerous factors are considered when determining each partner’s needs and contributions to the couple’s total shared property. It is important to note that property division applies only to a couple’s marital property, and not their singly-held pieces of property. Marital property is the property that the couple acquired through their shared buying power during their marriage. Examples of this include their home…Read More
Losing your job can launch you and your family into world of uncertainty. When the weeks you have been out of work turn into months, reaching a year or longer, you could find yourself struggling with making all of your monthly payments. If this is the case, consider filing a motion with the court to modify your child support obligation. It is on the parent experiencing the financial hardship to file for a modification. If the court approves of the motion, the parent then must prove that it is necessary by providing the court with all relevant information about his or her current financial situation. The child’s other parent must provide information about his or her financial status as well. The court, in making the decision to modify a parent’s child support agreement, also considers all other relevant information to…Read More
